After the stone has been removed, the renal pelvis should return to normal.
Click Next for potential post-procedure expectations
ORGAN INJURY
Because we are making an incision directly into the back, there is a slight risk of injury to the bowel or lung/chest cavity. We use x-ray and ultrasound to be very cautious to identify these other organs to ensure that we do not cause injury to them however in some rare cases depending on the positioning of the kidney relative to the other organs, this could still happen.
a) Since your stone is on the right, there is also a small risk of injury to the liver.
b) Since your stone is on the left, there is also a small risk of injury to the spleen.
BLEEDING
Because the kidney is highly vascular and receives 20% of your body’s blood flow, making an incision directly into it has a risk of bleeding. Because the kidney is extremely robust, bleeding from the kidney rarely requires an additional surgery or procedure. You may need a blood transfusion to support your kidney or stay in the hospital slightly longer, but this is rare. Approximately 1% of our UW Kidney Stone Center patients require a blood transfusion.
STENT
Most patients will have a stent after this procedure to help reduce kidney swelling after surgery. The stent may cause urinary discomfort, frequency, urgency, blood in the urine, flank pain when urinating.
SCAR TISSUE
Due to instrumentation, some patients may develop scar tissue in the ureter. Long term, this may cause kidney pain, recurrent stones, or, rarely, loss of kidney function. Rarely, some patients may need further surgeries to treat the scar tissue.
URETER INJURY
Due to instrumentation, some patients may have injury to the ureter during the procedure. The ureter is very robust, and most of the time, the ureter heals on its own by leaving a stent, a thin plastic tube, for up to a few weeks. However, depending on when the ureter injury occurs, you may need further procedures to complete treating your stones or to address the injury itself.
URINARY TRACT INFECTION
Because bacteria can live on kidney stones, there is a chance that treating the kidney stones may release bacteria into the urine or bloodstream causing an infection that may require antibiotics, or rarely, hospitalization for antibiotics.